Stabilizer for flying-machines.



G. W. CLINE. STABILIZER FIOR FLYING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED Nov.11.19u.

Patented Dec. 31, 1918.

GEORGE W. CLINE, OF ALBANY, OREGON.

STABILIZER FOR FLYING-MACHINES.

Application filed November 17, 1917.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. CLINE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Albany, in the county of Linn and State of Oregon, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stabilizers for Flying- Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to flying machines of the heavier-than-air type, and particularly to means controlling the ailerons of the planes to thereby control the stability of the machine.

The invention has particular relation to certain improvements on the form of the stabilizer described, illustrated and claimed in my Patent N o. 1,226,312, granted on the 15th day of May, 1917 One of the objects of the present invention is to improve upon the construction illustrated in this patent by doing away with the pendulum therein, thereby bringing the rails upon which the controller moves nearer to the center of gravity of the machine.

And a further object is to provide means whereby the freedom of movement of the carriage or controller may be checked by the aviator, and in this connection to provide a foot controlled brake which will check the movement of the carriage, and specifically to so mount the rails which form the track on which the carriage moves, that one of these rails may be shifted nearer to or farther from the other rail, to thereby check the movement of the carriage.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a front elevation of an aeroplane equipped with my improved stabilizers;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the stabilizer and a portion of the aeroplane;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a section on the line f1-4 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2.

While for the purpose of illustration I have shown my invention as employed upon a machine of the biplane type, this biplane being provided with lateral -stabilizing Specification of Letters Patent.

vnumber of rails.

Patented Dec. 31, 1918.

serial No. 202,532.

planes or ailerons, it is to be understood that myv mechanism may be used for the control of ailerons, sliding of pivoted wing tips, warping tips, or any other devices which may be used for the purpose of securing lateral stability. For the purpose of illustration, the biplane is shown as being provided on each side of its center with the stabilizing planes, designated 10, each of these planes being pivoted midway of its length as at 11, so that the stabilizers may rock o r oscillate in planes parallel to the direction of flight. As illustrated, these stabilizers 10 are disposed between the upper and lower planes,

12 and 13 respectively.

For the purpose of automatically shifting these stabilizers to counteract undue lateral tipping, I provide upon the body of the machine, preferably rearward of but in approximately the same plane as the lower planes, an arcuate track consisting of an upper rail 14 and a lower rail 15. As illustrated this track consists of just two rails, but it is to be understood that it might be formed of four rails or any other suitable The middle portion of each rail is downwardly bowed, the rails being parallel to each other and the outer end portions of each rail are horizontal. Attached to the lower rail, which lower rail is iXedly mounted in any suitable manner upon the fuselage of the aeroplane, are the upwardly extending posts 16, and the upper rail 1-/1 adjacent its ends is gained or notched as at 17 to fit these posts and move vertically between them, these gains or notches pre-venting the longitudinal movement of the rail 14 relative to the rail 15. Disposed between the ends of the rails are springs 18, there being preferably two of these coiled compression springs at each end of the track. rlhese springs urge the rails la and 15 apart and yieldingly hold them at a predetermined distance.

Operating between these rails is a carriage which may be of any suitable construction and which has a body 19 and theoppositely disposed wheels 20, these wheels being flanged so as to run between the rails 1l and 15. The ends of the carriage are provided with links 21 and attached to these links are the rods, or connectors 22. These connections 22 extend out laterally in opposite directions from the carriage laterally of the pairs of springs 18, and are will not cause the carriage to move.

connected to the lower ends of the depending arms 23 of bell crank levers, the horizontal arms 24 of which are connected to links 25, pivotally connected to the stabilizing planes 10. These bell crank levers are mounted upon posts or other supporting members 26, which may be the struts of the planes. The carriage moves by gravity along the arcuate track and thus it will be obvious that when the aeroplane tips in one direction, the carriage will move in the direction of the lowest part of the track and that one of the connections 22 will be pulled while the other connection will be slackened or pushed. rlhus one of the stabi-l lizing planes will be shifted in one direction while the other stabilizing plane will be shifted in the opposite direction, thus acting to return the aeroplane to its horizontal position.

Preferably the middle portion of the arcuate track is slightly flattened so that slight rocking movements of the aeroplairji course normally the upper rail 14 does not quite touch the wheels 20 so that these wheels have free rolling motion upon the rail 15, the upper rail acting to prevent the carriage from becoming derailed.

For the purpose of causing the upper rail 14 to mo-ve toward the rail 15, to thereby engage the wheels of the carriage and thus impede the free movement of the carriage, l provide cables 27, which cables are attached to the ends of the upper rail 14, extend downward through suitable openings in the ends of the lower rail 15 and then pass over pulleys 28 mounted upon the lower rail. Mounted upon the body of the machine, and in proximity to the aviator, is a foot pedal 29 and the cables 27, after they pass over the pulleys 2S, pass to this foot pedal, either directly or over suitable pulleys, necessary in order to change the direction of the cable. lt will be obvious, therefore, that by pressing down upon the foot pedal 29, the cables 27 will be pulled, thus causing the upper rail to mo-ve toward the lower rail and to either absolutely bind upon the-carriage so as to prevent its movement or impede the movement of the carriage so that the carriage will. not move too freely. t'will be also obvious that if it be desired to maintain the inclination of an aeroplane the brake, constituted by the rail 14, may be moved to clamp the carriage when the carriage has been shifted to any desired position upon the rails.

It will be seen that inasmuch as the carriage is free to move longitudinally along the curved rail 15, that when the aeroplane is on an even keel, the carriage will remain in a middle position and the stabilizing planes 10 will be held in a middle position. If, however, the aeroplane dips to one side so that the plane is inclined to the horizontal, then the carriage will move along the track and if the carriage moves to the left, then the lefthand plane will be turned downward and the righthand plane turned upward and thus the stabilizing plane on the depressed end of the aeroplane will exert a lifting force while the stabilizing plane on the opposite end will exert a depressing force which will cause the machine to be brought back to an even keel, but by the provision of the brake, I provide for holding the carriage at any desired point and thus holding the stabilizing planes at any desired angle and also provide for impeding the movement of the stabilizing carriage, so that it will move relatively slowly or not at all.

rlhe relative leveling of the track in the center for a distance equal to the length of the carriage would ordinarily cause the carriage to stand in the exact center of the ma chine. The curvature of the track on each side of the middle portion of the track should not be pronounced but sho-uld be of such slope as to permit of easy progress of the carriage in either direction as circumstances require. At the same time, however, this curvature should not be so slight as to permit sudden movements of the carriage to either side.

While I have illustrated in the drawings the track as dispo-sed adjacent the lower plane and with the upper and lower rails disposed vertically with relation to each other, yet I do not wish to limit myself to this as the track might be disposed in a horizontal plane, that is, with its rails disposed horizontally with relation to each other, as illustrated in my patent before referred to. It will be understood that this present invention does not relate to the provision of a curved track and a carriage movable thereon or to the particular relation of this curved y track to the machine, or to the provision of 110 a curved track as distinguished ltfrorm ,a straight track, but that the invention relates to means for braking the carriage Vor impeding its freel movement and that this mechanism may be modified in many ways 115 and applied on the aeroplane in many different ways, without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the ap- Y pended claims. Y

Having thus fully described my invention, 120 what I claim is Y l. The combination with a flying machine including stabilizers, of means for automatically operating the stabilizers comprising a track extending transversely ofthe machine, 125 the track includingsp aced rails, springsyieldingly holding said rails in spaced relation to each other, a carriage movable between the rails and having operative connections to the stabilizers, and manually operable 130 means for drawing one of said rails toward the other rail against the action of the springs to thereby impede the movement of the carriage.

2. A stabilizing mechanism for aeroplanes including a track comprising spaced elements, springs yieldingly holding the elements in spaced relation, a carriage movable along the track and adapted to be connected to the aeroplane stabilizers, a foot controlling lever, and operative connections from the lever to one of said rails to cause the last named rail to move toward the other rail, to thereby impede the movement of the carriage.

3. The combination with a flying machine including stabilizers, of means for automatically operating the stabilizers comprising a track extending transversely of the machine and including spaced rails longitudinally curved for the greater portion of their length, springs yieldingly holding said rails in predetermined spaced relation to each other, a wheeled carriage movable between said rails, operative connections between said carriage and the stabilizers, a controlling lever and cables extending from the controlling lever through one of said rails to the other rail, whereby an operation of the lever will cause the rails to be moved toward each other to thereby impede the movement of the carriage. l

4. The combination with a iying machine including lateral main planes and stabilizers, of means for operating the stabilizers comprising a track disposed on a level with said main plane and rearward thereof, said track extending transversely of the machine and comprising upper and lower downwardly bowed rails, posts on the lower rail between which the upper rail is guided, springs between the upper and lower rails in predetermined spaced relation, a lever, and cables extending from the lever to each end of the track extending upward through the lowermost rail and being attached to the uppermost rail whereby the uppermost rail may be shifted toward the lower rail, to thereby impede the movement of the carriage.

In testimony whereoil I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

GLADYS M. GILBERT, HANNAH S. ANDERSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

